Description of Penn IMIG Expertise

Research:

Research in our lab addresses the cell biological mechanisms through which regulated actin dynamics promote the function of T cells and antigen presenting cells. Our long-term goal is to understand how dysregulation of these events leads to immunodeficiency, autoimmune disease, or cancer.
When a T cell is stimulated by an antigen presenting cell (APC), an actin-rich membrane domain termed the immunological synapse is formed at the cell-cell interface. This event is coordinated by several proteins including WASp, WAVE2, and HS1. Using spinning disk confocal microscopy, we analyze the effects of these actin-regulatory proteins and their upstream regulators on the spatiotemporal control of signaling events at the immunological synapse. T cell-APC engagement also leads to formation of a protein complex distal to the site of TCR engagement, termed the distal pole complex (DPC). The DPC shares many components with the uropod of migrating T cells; both are organized by members of the ERM (ezrin, radixin, moesin) protein family. We are studying the formation of the DPC and uropod, and asking how the proteins that organize these structures direct cell movement both in vitro and in vivo. Recently, the lab has initiated studies aimed at understanding actin-dependent aspects of dendritic cell function. Our goal is to define the role of actin-regulatory proteins in dendritic cell migration and antigen presentation.